Characters: Michi, Tatum, Sam, Mack, Sera, little Kia, and basically anyone else in attendance [or crashing].
Setting: Lake Lanier Resort, April of 2017.
Content: NSFW? Who even knows, THESE KIDS.
Summary: Michi & Tatum's wedding!
When Tatum had been growing up, she had never been the type of little girl to plan her wedding. She and Mack had played wedding many times when they were young, always in their backyards, until her father had put a stop to it. But it had never felt like a reality, that she would get there, get to be happy. When she had been very young, she and Mack promised they would get married someday for real, but before they were even in high school it had become abundantly clear that such things wouldn't be happening in their future together.
Weddings, and the idea of being married to someone, became less of a game of pretend to her and more of a looming fear as she became a teenager. She had always dreaded the thought that if she wanted to get married, that most likely she'd never be happy with the person she would end up with, that her parents would decide for her like always did and that would be that. She began to think she would be lucky to even tolerate a husband, let alone like him. They'd pick someone awful. They had already spent her life trying to hook her up with their sons of their friends, with proper young men from church. She had been sure that one day, they would reel her in and she would have to spend the rest of her days with a 'nice catholic boy' that both of her parents would approve of and pick out just for her.
The idea that she could be standing where she was today, wearing am overly expensive wedding gown that she enjoyed wearing more than she let on, actually ready to marry the woman that she loved, that she had chosen. It was a nice twist on how the rest of her life had played out to this point. But she and Michi had been together for almost seven years now, and it had been almost just as long since she had spoken to her parents, she was ready. They couldn't ruin her special day, and her real family was here to support her, the family she had chosen to surround herself with. Though her stomach was riddled with butterflies as she looked at herself in the mirror for the hundredth time, Tatum felt like nothing could knock her down today.
They had been through so much together now, and Tatum didn't want anyone else. Kia and Izzy were getting bigger every day, not to mention the little bump in her stomach that was just beginning to show. Getting married, graduated with two kids and one on the way, and still everything worked out better than expected. When she had gotten pregnant five years ago, she hadn't ever thought her life would end up this way, working out this way. Never in a million years had the redhead believed that she could have this life, a wife and children that she loved more than anything, and no one to tell her it was wrong. It was her day, their day, and she wasn't about to let anything bring her down.
It wasn't a particularly big affair, and only a modest amount of guests, even if the venue was a big expensive. Tatum hadn't wanted anything over the top, but she had fallen in love with the view of the lake. It was the next best thing to being home, it was comforting. She didn't have much home here. They both had very few blood relations in attendance, but Tatum didn't really care as much as she once would have. Letting the actions of her parents bring her down was a thing of the past. Her brother and sister were here, her nieces, her kids and her friends, she didn't really need much else. They had come a long way to get to this point, the mood was good, and even the weather was perfect for an outdoor ceremony. Tatum had opted out of using a church as her first official decision about the day. She absolutely did not want to be married in a chapel, or by a pastor.
Yes, she was ready, but it didn't really stop her butterflies. She was supposed to be working on finishing writing out her vows, but that was proving to be the hardest part. Everything she and Michi had been through together since they had met, since Sera and Hunter had first introduced them at a party in high school, was a lot to address. Everything she owed her future wife thanks for, everything Michi had put up with, everything that Michi had helped her through, was not easily summed up on a little scrap of notebook paper. She had taken forever to begin writing them, and now it was her last chance to finish them and she didn't know where to stop. She had a knack for being long-winded, and she doubted that everyone wanted her rambling on for an hour. God, she'd probably start crying.
She could do this though, she was definitely ready, and she barely even jumped as there was a knock on the door.
